Trends in the ONS weekly deaths data show a huge increase in at-home deaths not from Coronavirus.
The ONS confirmed that excess deaths in private homes - the number of deaths above the average for the corresponding period in the previous five years - have mostly been deaths not involving Covid-19.
Of the nearly 26,000 excess deaths in private homes registered from March up to 11 September, just 9% were from Covid.
A third of lung cancer patients have died since the beginning of the outbreak, with referrals from GPs down 75%. There are fears that where coughing can be seen as a symptom of both lung cancer and Covid, diagnoses could have been misattributed, resulting in cancers being overlooked.
Prostate cancer deaths are up by over 50% and bowel cancer deaths are up by nearly 50%. Female Alzheimer’s and dementia deaths are up by 75% and breast cancer deaths are up by nearly 50%.
Deaths in hospitals have dropped over the same period (14 March to 11 September).
DR UK Head of Policy Fazilet Hadi said: “These figures show the extent to which normal medical interventions were reduced at the start of the pandemic through to the autumn, and also the extent of the public’s fear of approaching medical establishments for treatment in the light of instruction to lockdown completely.
“These figures are shocking and the number of deaths is evidently disproportionate. It is vital that the government’s plans for this winter include remedial measures to get treatments for life-changing and life-threatening illnesses back on track. It must not forget that it is not just the virus which kills during this pandemic.” Read more here: